The Kicker

Chapter 11

Leo

I was really enjoying the time that Rudy and I were spending together. It was so fun watching him learn about football and he seemed to be getting into the game. He was also looking forward to going to my games and to be honest, I loved looking into the stands to see him sitting there, cheering us on. When he came over to my place to watch Monday Night Football, it was so cute when he started to take notes.

I laughed, “be sure to study those notes, there will be a quiz later.”

Rudy shrugged, “sorry, the nerd in me just comes right out whenever I try to learn something new.”

I gave him kiss, “no need to be sorry, I think it’s adorable and I really do appreciate you trying so hard to understand something I like so much.”

He smiled and kissed me back, “I admit, it has been sort of fun and I do enjoy going to your games.”

I grinned, “have you ever played golf?”

Rudy arched his eyebrow, “as a matter of fact, I have. My boss made me go with him, right after I moved to San Diego. Why?”

I said, “Robbie and I used to go all the time and I kind of want to get back out on the course.”

Rudy nodded, “I did have fun and I would love to golf with you sometime.”

I smiled, “as soon as the season is over, it’s a date.”

Damn it, I was really starting to fall for this guy, he was all that I could think about when I wasn’t playing football. It felt like he had the same feelings for me and now he was starting to ask me questions about where I thought our relationship was heading. I knew he was ready to take things to the next level and be exclusive. This wasn’t a problem for me, I hadn’t even so much as looked at another guy ever since we met. I would happily move things along, but that would mean I would have to tell some other people about my sexuality. When Rudy asked me about Megan, I felt my stomach turn, even though I hadn’t talked to her in over two months. I sincerely hoped she had met someone else and was getting on with her life. If I were to tell her about Rudy, she would surely tell Holly and Mack. From there it would spread to everyone I know, I knew it was time for me to man up, I just needed to figure out how. An opportunity would soon present itself, whether I was ready or not.

We had made it to the last week of the regular season. We had already secured a spot in the playoffs, but we didn’t know who we would play until after our last game. I picked up Rudy’s ticket for this week’s game and was going to give it to him tonight. I got home and decided to take a shower. Whenever I gave Rudy his ticket, he usually ended up thanking me and I wanted to be ready in case he chose to do so tonight. I had about an hour before he normally came home, I undressed and headed to the bathroom. I heard a knock at the door and thought, “he must have gotten home early tonight”, I grinned as I wrapped a towel around my waist and answered the door.

I was shocked when I opened the door and heard, “surprise.”

I stuttered, “Megan? What are you doing here?”

She grinned, “I finally got some time off from work and I wanted to come watch one of your games.”

I said, “well, you should have called, I haven’t heard from you in months.”

Megan rolled her eyes, “you didn’t call me either. So, are you going to let me in?”

I shrugged, “sure, come on in, sorry I was just going to take a shower. Please have a seat, I’ll just go throw some clothes on.”

She teased, “don’t get dressed on my account.”

I sighed, “just wait here, I’ll be right back.” I quickly went to my bedroom and pulled on a shirt and pair of shorts and headed back out to the living room.

She said, “you don’t seem so happy to see me.”

I asked, “why didn’t you tell me you were coming?”

She sighed, “I was expecting a little warmer welcome, is there a reason you don’t want me here.”

I shook my head, “of course not, it’s just a surprise, that’s all.”

She squinted her eyes at me, “why, are you seeing someone else that you don’t want me to know about?”

I evaded her question, “it’s been over two months since you called, I assumed you met someone else.”

She admitted, “well, I did have a few dates with an old high school boyfriend, that’s why I wanted to see you. I thought we should talk about us before I got too far in.”

I sat on the couch next to her, “I told you when we left Stillwater that you should go ahead and date if you met someone. I didn’t expect you to wait for me.”

Megan gave me a look, “it sounds like you are seeing someone, and you want me to leave.”

I took a deep breath and summoned all my courage, and said, “yes.”

She looked shocked, “excuse me.”

I stood and began to pace, “I said yes, there is someone else and yes, I want you to leave.”

She gave me a death stare, “you son of a bitch, I knew it. Who is she?”

I shook my head, “oh stop with the theatrics, you already said you were seeing someone else. You should be relieved you can go back home with a clear conscience. Besides you wouldn’t know them, so there’s no need for me to tell you who it is. To be honest, I don’t care who you are seeing, so why should you care who I am seeing.”

Megan crossed her arms as she sat back on the couch, “if I don’t know them, why won’t you tell me who it is.”

I sat back down next to her and took another deep breath, it was now or never. I said, “his name is Rudy Jackson, and he lives down the hall.”

Megan stared at me, then finally said, “he? What are you saying Leo?”

I sighed, “I’m gay Megan.” There, I said it.

She laughed, “I don’t believe you. Come on, let’s go to your bedroom and I’ll prove it.” She tried to kiss me.

I held her back, “no, we are not going to my bedroom, and I am not lying. I have been seeing Rudy since I moved here. Not only that I was seeing Casey while we were dating in college.”

She hissed, “Casey, that trainer guy?”

I nodded, “yes, now do you believe me?”

Megan shrugged, “I don’t know Leo, this is not what I was expecting to hear.”

I sighed, “I’m sorry Megan, for the first time in my life, I am telling you the God’s honest truth. To be honest, it feels good to get this off my chest.”

We talked for another hour, and I think I finally convinced her that there would never be anything between us other than a friendship. I told her that it would, of course be up to her if she wanted me as a friend. She rescheduled her flight home so she could leave in the morning, I told her I would take my shower and take her out for dinner. She could stay at my place tonight, I would sleep on the couch and she could have my bed. I finished my shower and was drying off when I thought I heard someone knocking on my door and voices.

I stepped out of the bathroom just as Megan was closing the door, I asked, “who was at the door?”

She turned around and handed me my shirts, “just your neighbor, he was returning your shirts.”

She had an evil smirk on her face, “I might have let it slip that I was your girlfriend.”

I pushed past her and opened my door just in time to hear Rudy slam his door shut. I turned back to Megan, “why the hell would you say something like that? Haven’t you been listening to me for the last hour?”

She shrugged, “I think you can do better than him.”

I was seeing red, I screamed, “who the fuck do you think you are? You had no right to tell him that, if you screw things up between me and Rudy, so help me God…”

Megan smirked, “so help you God, what?”

I pulled the door open, “get the hell out of here right now.”

She said, “I thought you said I could stay…”

I yelled, “get out, I never want to see you ever again.”

She asked, “where am I supposed to go?”

I grabbed her bag and handed it to her, I said, “I don’t give a fuck where you go, just get the hell out.”

The tears started to flow, I continued to hold the door open and stopped her protests, I said, “there are plenty hotels in town, and I am sure they all have a shuttle to the airport, don’t be late for your flight.”

I slammed the door as she walked out, I ran to my phone to call Rudy, it went straight to voicemail. I got dressed and knocked on his door, either he wasn’t home or wouldn’t answer. Damn it, I needed to try and explain what happened. I can’t say that I blamed Rudy for being upset, I know I would have been if I had been in his position. I just couldn’t believe that Megan would be so vindictive. I know I should have told her when we left college, so I was just as much to blame for this whole mess.

I slid Rudy’s ticket under his door, hoping that he would still want to come to my game on Sunday. I looked to the area where he always sat, but he wasn’t there. I wasn’t too surprised but was still disappointed. The only bright spot was that we won our final game. We learned we were going to play Houston in the first round of the playoffs. I called my parents and got them tickets to the game, it was just a couple hours’ drive from Westfield. Thankfully, we were having extra practices, and I didn’t have much time to think about Rudy. I was still calling and sending him daily texts with no answers.  I would knock on his door every day when I would return home, again he never answered.

The night before we were to leave for Houston, I got a call from Mack. I sighed, as I answered, I was sure that Holly had talked to Megan and my secret was making its rounds.

I said, “hey Mack, how’s it going?”

He answered, “going good, congrats on getting to the playoffs.”

I smiled, “thanks, I assume you have talked to Megan.” No reason in dragging this out any longer.

He chuckled, “yeah, she is definitely not your biggest fan right now.”

I laughed, “well, the feeling is completely mutual.” After a short pause, I continued, “I’m guessing she told you everything.”

He said, “yes, but she said you were seeing a guy named Rudy, what happened between you and Casey?”

I paused again, “so, you knew about Casey?”

He laughed, “well, I had my suspicions, but the night of our final party I saw you leave right after he did. Then you evaded my question after we got back to our room, you kind of confirmed it for me.”

I said, “I’m sorry, I should have told you, but I was still trying to figure things out. I know I should have handled things with Megan different too, but I knew Casey and I weren’t going to have a relationship other than fuck buddies, so I just let things slide. Now that things with Rudy are getting serious, well they were before he met Megan, it’s time to come clean.”

He asked, “so Rudy is still upset with you?”

I replied, “I assume so, he won’t talk to me.”

Mack asked, “do you think you guys will be able to work things out?”

I said, “I don’t know, I just wish he would talk to me.”

Mack and I talked for another half hour, after we ended the call, I sat back and sighed. It was nice to finally have someone to talk to about this stuff. Now that I told Megan and Mack about being gay, I fully understood Robbie when he said it felt like a huge weight had lifted when he told his parents.

Our game with Houston was on Saturday and we weren’t going back to Sante Fe until Sunday, so I made plans to have dinner with my parents after the game. I’m not sure if I was more nervous about the game, or about the talk I was planning to have with mom and dad.

The game went well, and we easily beat Houston, so we were moving on to the next round. The easy part of the trip was over, now came the hard part. I arrived at the restaurant and gave mom and dad a big hug as we sat down. The server took our order, and I decided the sooner I do this the better.

I took a big gulp of my beer and started, “mom, dad, I want to tell you something.”

They looked at each other, dad asked, “what is it son?”

I swallowed hard, I said, “I have been seeing someone since I moved to Sante Fe.”

Mom smiled, “that’s great honey, when can we meet her?”

I took another drink, “well, I’m not sure, we just had a big fight.”

Dad said, “ok Leo, what’s going on? There is something you’re not telling us.”

I looked him in the eye, “his name is Rudy, mom, dad, I’m gay.”

Mom sort of chuckled, “oh Leo, quit trying to prank us.”

I sighed, “I’m not trying to prank you.”

Mom said, “this isn’t funny Leo…”

Dad interrupted, “Linda, listen to your son, he is not kidding.”

I said, “I’m sorry, I should have told you guys sooner.”

Mom looked upset, “sooner? How long have you been this way? Did Robbie talk you into this?”

I shook my head, “nobody talked me into anything mom, Robbie and I figured this out together. Neither of turned this way, we were born gay.”

Mom sighed, “but you weren’t like this…”

Once again dad interrupted, “Linda, stop. Leo didn’t change, he is still the same as he has always been.” He turned to me, “Leo, you’re our son and we will always love you. I am sorry that you felt you couldn’t come to us earlier.”

I said, “no dad, it wasn’t your fault that I didn’t tell you sooner, it was mine. Rudy has helped me understand my feelings, now I’m ready to admit it and live my life the way I need to.”

Dad nodded, “well, we would love to meet Rudy, whenever you are ready.”

It was an awkward conversation for the rest of the meal, and mom remained mostly silent. Dad and I were finally able to shift the talk back to the playoffs and who we would be playing next. By the time we said goodbye, I was feeling much better. While I was expecting dad to be more upset than mom, I was glad for his support. I know mom was trying to understand, hopefully she would come around with a little more time.

I got back to the hotel and Will was already in the room lying in his bed.

He asked, “how was dinner with the folks?”

I was on a roll with this coming out thing, so I just kept on going and told him everything. I was relieved that he was also supportive, and we agreed that the rest of the team didn’t need to know, just yet. I told him I would have a talk with the coach after the season was over, the team didn’t need any distractions, we were two games away from going to the Super Bowl.

We won the next game and were set to face Kansas City, if we beat them, we were headed to the Super Bowl. We played them close just like when we played them in the regular season. This time when we got to the last minute and still had a tie score, we drove down and ran the clock to 4 seconds. Will and I ran out to kick a field goal for the win. He motioned for the center to snap the ball, he set it down perfectly and I split the up rights as the clock hit zero, we were going to the Super Bowl and would be playing the Philadelphia Eagles.

We spent the next two weeks getting ready for the biggest game of the year. I was still trying to get Rudy to talk to me, with no luck. Before Megan’s visit, Rudy and I had talked about if we got to the big game, that Rudy would like to invite his family. My parents and sister’s families were coming, so I got five extra tickets with field passes, in case we won, and again just slid them under Rudy’s door, hoping for the best.

I wasn’t able to get the tickets together, so my family would be in one section, while Rudy’s would be in another section, if they showed up. I kept looking in the stands during warm up, I saw my parents, and my sisters with their husbands and smiled. The section where Rudy’s family should be, was still empty by the time we went back to the locker room for our pregame speech from the coach. When we ran back out on the field the stands were full and my attention turned to the game, I needed to maintain my concentration. By the time we got to the fourth quarter we were tied at 28 points, I had not kicked any field goals, only extra points after our four touchdowns. The Eagles drove down the field, and our defense held them to a field goal, we got the ball back with about four minutes left in the game. We slowly moved down the field and needed a touchdown to win. We stalled out at the twenty-yard line and were down to 15 seconds left on the clock. We called our final time out to discuss the best play. I noticed the big video screen was scanning the fans, the announcer said, “the Bandits appear to be trying for the win and are going to run a play instead of going for the tie with a field goal. It looks like they might be disappointing these fans, that seem to be in the Leo Foxx fan club.” I looked closer, it was Rudy and what I assumed were his parents, sister and her boyfriend, they were all wearing a Bandits Jersey with my number. I felt a tear start to form as Will put his arm around me and asked, “is that Rudy?” I nodded, “yep.”

We quickly turned our attention back to the field as our quarter back stepped back to pass. He threw ball and it was batted away by the defense. The clocked stopped with two seconds left, coach quickly waved Will and I over and yelled “tie this thing up, we’ll get them in overtime.”

We lined up for the biggest kick of my young career, Will looked up at me, I gave him a nod and the center sent the ball flying. My heart sank as the ball flew right through Will’s hands and landed five yards away from me. I panicked as I ran to pick up the ball, if I could run the twenty yards and cross the goal line we could win the game. As soon as I had the ball in my hands, I looked up to see a 300-pound linebacker running straight at me. Out of nowhere, I heard someone yell, “Leo”, I heaved the ball in the direction of the voice and was promptly leveled and buried under 300 pounds of muscle and flesh. As soon as the mass shifted off me, I turned in time to see Will catch the ball and run toward the endzone. At the five-yard line he held the ball out and dived as one of the Eagle’s players was diving at Will’s feet. The clock hit zero as the ref held his hands up signaling a touchdown. Before I could pick myself up off the ground, five of my teammates from the bench were lifting me in the air, while our teammates on the field were doing the same to Will. The crowd noise was deafening as our entire team met in the middle of the field to celebrate. The disappointed Eagles ran to their locker room as our fans began to flood the field. I scanned the crowd and found my family running to me, the cameras were filming as I gave them all a big hug and my mom kissed my cheek. A reporter was headed my way and was already asking about the pass I threw to Will, before I could listen to the question and answer, I saw Rudy. I ran to him and wrapped him in a hug, I whispered, “thanks for coming.” I took his hand and pulled him through the sea of people to where my parents were.

I yelled above all the cheering, “mom, dad, this is my boyfriend, Rudy.”

Rudy looked at me wide eyed, “boyfriend?”

A tear formed at the corner of my eye, “if you’ll take me back.”

He smiled, “of course I will.”

I grabbed him and planted a big kiss on his lips as cameras snapped pictures and filmed us in our embrace.

  

To be continued…